The 42

STEPHEN BRADLEY HAILED a “special, special night” after a 98th-minute penalty miss from Vikingur Reykjavik captain Nikolaj Hansen ensured Shamrock Rovers progressed to the second round of qualifying for the Champions League.

The 2-1 win, courtesy of a Johnny Kenny brace, means the Hoops will have a minimum of three more European ties this season.

Sparta Prague visit next week and the nature of the champions’ path means Rovers will have safety nets in both the Europa League and Conference League.

But their Champions League dream is still alive for at least one more round.

Rovers survived Jack Byrne’s sending off with a quarter of an hour to go and when Roberto Lopes gave away a foul on Valdimar Ingimundarson in the 96th minute it looked as though the tie was destined for extra-time.

Hansen’s penalty then struck the post and went wide with Bradley admitting it was an emotional night.

“I don’t think I can have too many more nights like that,” he said.

“A special, special, night. We spoke before the game with the players about making a special memory. They’ve been brilliant.”

Bradley said he thought his side would be in for “a long night” had the tie went to extra-time but the resilience of his players shone through.

“Down to ten men, last 15. You dig in, earn that bit of luck.

“We know, we spoke about it yesterday, we know that opportunities open up now. It’s a really important game. We’re against a very good side, we know we have to play in a completely different game; we knew they wouldn’t expect how we played early on. We play in that easy part, we went on the front foot.”

On goalscorer Kenny he added: “Tenacious, this year he has been the best forward in the country by a mile. All the stats were pointing towards this for Johnny, he wasn’t scoring, we knew he needed time. It took a bit of adjusting.”

Written by David Sneyd and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.